Transformative isn’t a word that I’d typically use for FPS titles as of late. Though a hardcore fan of the genre myself, I’m personally comfortable with the typical fare of run, shoot, repeat. Whether you’re shooting enemy humans, demons, or even robots, the mechanics are the same; shoot anything that moves with the game’s unique set of guns. While this formula is very effective, sometimes it’s nice to try a new topping on that FPS pizza. The exact refreshing new element needed to spruce up gameplay comes directly from FYQD Studio and PLAYISM’s latest title, Bright Memory: Infinite. With a fantastic implementation of satisfying melee combat, this game, while short, had me hungry for more.
Biggest Take-Aways
- This game innovates on FPS gameplay mechanics
- It utilizes impressive environmental visuals
- The game is incredibly short, coming in at about an hour or so
- For $19.99, this is a great deal overall
- Final score: 8/10
Innovative FPS Gameplay That Doesn’t Only Rely On Guns
Don’t get me wrong, Bright Memory: Infinite does have its fair share of guns, such as an assault rifle, shotgun, pistol, and sniper rifle. And they’re all actually fantastic to use with each having not only a standard bullet that fires from them but special ones as well. Each gun’s special bullets are extremely different yet really play a big role in combat, especially when it comes to taking on big waves of enemies. Everything gun-wise feels very nice and in line with any other FPS title, you’d play right now. Though it is advised to mess with the sensitivity settings as the defaults can make this game’s combat feel hokey if not tuned. It’s nothing major, and only takes a moment or so to correct.
Though, the other side to combat is where the game absolutely shines the brightest. Melee attacks in Bright Memory: Infinite are the reason to buy a ticket to the show. It’s smooth, calculated, and insanely satisfying. And it’s not just swinging around a sword either, you’ll be pulling off combos, parrying attacks, and utilizing various in-game powers to further it all. In addition to that, you can even block enemy fire with your sword, Jedi Knight style.
The various skills that can also be unlocked in-game range from various upgrades to your guns themselves like stronger special bullets and so on, to the strength of your melee attacks. There are even some new melee move sets to learn as well using combos that become upgradeable as you play the game. All skills are unlocked using Relics that can be found within every map in the game. Luckily, these are actually pretty easy to find and never felt too hidden.
When it comes to the enemies that you’ll be fighting on this journey, they’re actually nicely varied and do a nice job of keeping you on your toes. Bright Memory: Infinite is a pretty fast-paced title, not just in its combat but in just how quickly everything ramps up in the game. You’ll often go toe-to-toe with military-type enemies with sniper rifles, shotguns, or ARs, but you also go up against very many historic Chinese warriors, each having its own spin on combat. Not to mention the bosses that pop up quite frequently in the game as well. The bosses are really the best part of confrontations as each one is wholly distinct from another and they’re all extremely memorable.
Kind Of A Tech Demo
Something that stuck with me, for better or worse about Bright Memory: Infinite was that it kind of felt like some kind of tech demo in a way. The environmental visuals and a lot of the lighting and overall visual mechanics at play looked really good. They looked even better when contrasted against some of the insanely weak character models. Any enemy that didn’t have an uncovered face looked great, but once you saw anyone’s face, including the main character Shelia, you instantly get pulled out of the immersion.
This can look like two separate games at times because Shelia is often pulled into the camera for certain action sequences. I personally don’t think these scenes make sense as nothing important happens and I can only assume they exist for the simple reason that this game comes with an overabundance of unnecessary, skimpy outfits for her. It feels more like a chance for players to ogle her more than anything else, and highlights how bad some of the character models are in actuality.
Another aspect that can make this game feel like a tech demo is a fact that it can be beaten in a little more than an hour. There are really only about 4 or so actual levels and they’re kind of padded with fluff by means of a needless stealth section and an on-rails driving sequence. Everything, aside from combat, is sort of a one-off in this game and there is definitely a feeling that things could’ve been stretched out a bit here. I mean, the combat is amazingly fun so it’s a mystery why the devs didn’t just indulge themselves a bit more in the game’s length.
While I was really hungry for more gameplay once the credits started rolling, I also wanted to see more story from this title. It’s a very interesting one with aspects reminiscent of the phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle, which instantly had me hooked from the beginning of the game onward. It’s just a shame that we never really get to know anything about who Shelia is (aside from her wardrobe) or who the big bad guy is or what his motivation was for putting things into action the way that he did. You’re left with many questions and zero answers by the end.
An Addictive Bit-Sized Action Game
So while it can feel a bit uneven in some areas, for its MSRP of $19.99 this is actually a really good game to play. The melee combat and overall vibe make this a very easy sell for anyone that is looking for a short FPS title that they can play for an hour, finish, and come back to whenever that itch makes its way over them. Bright Memory: Infinite has an additional harder difficulty or two which can elongate playthroughs a bit and create a better challenge the next time through.
I’m incredibly impressed by the visuals that the small team at FYQD was able to pull off. This game can roll with the best of them on next-gen hardware when compared to titles likes Call of Duty or Battlefield. Though certain character models can look silly, they luckily don’t make an appearance often, so it never fully ruins anything.
This is a title that, even though I’ve finished it, I myself have an itch to jump back into again because of how much fun I had playing it. I would happily play this title again with a smile on my face.
